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BlogLinode2021 in Review: Faster Block Storage, New Payment Options, Global Network Expansion, and More

2021 in Review: Faster Block Storage, New Payment Options, Global Network Expansion, and More

Linode 2021 in Review

As we look forward to 2022, we also want to reflect on plenty of highlights from the past twelve months, including network improvements, new product releases, and expansions.

Nearly one-third of all public cloud infrastructure spending is happening among alternative cloud providers like Linode, giving developers viable options to the growing complexity of large hyperscale platforms. We are committed to empowering our customers by delivering services that emphasize simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use.

Highlights from the past year include the introduction of faster block storage, more payment options, further expansion of our global network, and the addition of more than 300 guides and tutorials to our documentation library. Keep an eye on the blog and your inbox for more from our 2022 roadmap.

COMPUTE

GPU Instances Added to Singapore and Atlanta, Expanded Global Availability

Designed using the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000, we released GPU-optimized virtual machines in 2019. These cards harness the power of CUDA, Tensor, and RT cores to execute complex processing, deep learning, and ray tracing workloads. In 2021, we expanded GPU availability to our Singapore and Atlanta data centers and increased availability in existing locations. For more commercial workloads, contact our team.

KUBERNETES

Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) Speeds Adoption of Kubernetes 1.21 and New Rancher Driver

Our development team makes every effort to incorporate new versions of Kubernetes as quickly as possible. The version 1.21 release included general availability of CronJobs, a new field added to Immutable Secrets and ConfigMaps, and Graceful Node Shutdown.

The connectivity of LKE and Rancher was made even easier with the addition of an LKE Cluster Driver directly within Rancher. Enable the LKE driver and experience an improved click-button process to start creating and maintaining your Kubernetes clusters on Linode.

Autoscaler and High-Availability Control Planes on LKE

We made two critical enhancements to LKE. The first enables Horizontal Cluster Autoscaling, allowing you to create and destroy nodes in real-time based on resource limits. The Autoscaler is in general availability and you can deploy it via the Cloud Manager, API, or CLI.

The second enhancement, currently in beta, is the ability to update to a High-Availability (HA) Control Plane. The HA Control Plane gives you the confidence of an additional up-time SLA designed for business or mission-critical workloads. We expect to move to general availability soon.

STORAGE

Block Storage Upgraded with NVMe Technology

We’ve upgraded Block Storage to leverage NVMe as the hardware interface for next-generation SSDs, a significant improvement over traditional spinning hard disk drives with a 10-20x increase in throughput and up to 2000x improvement in IOPS. You can see the improvement yourself in a recent benchmark report from Cloud Spectator.

We’re offering NVMe Block Storage as a free upgrade to existing customers without impacting your price for Volumes. Keep track of the NVMe Block Storage rollout schedule here.

NETWORKING

Cloud Firewall Now in All Data Centers

Cloud Firewall is now available in all data centers, making it a free and easy way to secure or restrict access to your application by filtering traffic at the Linode network level, essentially acting as an “allow” list. Firewalls sit between your Compute instance and the internet to filter out malicious traffic before it reaches your server. Start configuring firewalls now using the API, CLI, or Cloud Manager.

Private VLAN Released as a Free Benefit

Private VLANs support you in creating public or private Layer 2 networks for secure communication between Linodes in the same data center. This free security service is part of the overall platform benefits available to every customer. 

MARKETPLACE

30+ One-Click Apps Added to the Marketplace

The Marketplace team added more than 30 apps in 2021, including Splunk, Beef, Zabbix, Valheim, Peppermint, and LiteSpeed. Browse the Marketplace to see what’s new.

DEVELOPER TOOLS

Expanded Support for Infrastructure as Code Tools – Terraform and Ansible

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) continues to influence how applications get developed. We want to make it as easy as possible to use tools like Terraform and Ansible and have added new guides to our documentation library. In early January, we’ll release an educational series on IaC to use Terraform, Ansible, Chef, Puppet, and Salt as integral parts of your development.

Custom Images Enhanced Functionality

The enhanced Custom Images service helps reduce the overhead of provisioning Linodes significantly and allows you to use Images to their full advantage. Images are stored even if you don’t have any active Linodes so the image is always available when you need it, and you can deploy it to any Linode in any data center. Get started now in Cloud Manager.

LINODE PLATFORM

Single Sign-On with Google

You can now use Google single sign-on to create an account or log in to manage your cloud infrastructure. Choose between Google, GitHub, or Linode account credentials to authenticate into Cloud Manager. It’s fast and easy to switch your login method, and we’ve created a guide with step-by-step instructions: Enabling Third-Party Authentication on Your Linode Account.

Payment Processing Support for Google Pay and PayPal

We now support PayPal and Google Pay as recurring payment methods on your account. This new feature is part of an ongoing effort to improve account management and billing options by allowing you to select a third-party payment system instead of a credit card. To enable one of these options, select Billing and Contact Information within your account.

Atlanta and Mumbai Data Center Improvements

The Atlanta data center migrated to a brand new facility with increased product availability to better serve our customers in the US Southeast region. We’re still focused on expanding our global footprint with increased capacity in existing locations like Mumbai, India and expanding the number of points of presence.

PROGRAMS

Linode Rise Announced to Support Founder-led Startups

The Linode Rise program gives bootstrapped and venture capital-backed startups an escape from the trappings of free infrastructure credits. The program targets founder-led startups that have designed capital-efficient business models and rely on open source and third-party applications. At the core of Rise is a three-year discount program that provides up to $120,000 in free cloud infrastructure during the first year as a member.

The Linode Partner Program Doubled in Size

This year, the Linode Partner Program experienced significant growth as small and mid-market resellers seek to eliminate the roadblocks to success often found in the partner programs run by hyperscale cloud providers. Our partner program gives participants discounts and resources in our Partner Portal, including product training, co-branded sales content, white papers, and ebooks. These benefits are in addition to dedicated technical support from a real person available 24/7/365 at no extra cost. Learn more about the Linode Partner Program here.

Look for news in the next few months as we unveil new initiatives, enhancements, and expansion plans. If you want to be the first to know about new products, or test new products in beta, join the Linode Green Light early adopter program.


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